2025 marks the 950th anniversary of the formation of the Diocese of Chichester and the beginning of the construction of Chichester Cathedral. Whether you’re religious or not, this marks a significant moment in the history of Sussex, both East and West. As part of a year-long programme of celebrations (Chichester950), The Reverend Canon Vanessa Baron is curating a fascinating exhibition, Religion, Rebellion & Reformation. The exhibition will include an extraordinary collection of stories and artefacts from across East and West Sussex that pepper the history of Sussex and illustrate the meaning of Christianity, humanity and human endeavour.
The Diocese of Chichester almost exactly covers the counties of East and West Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove, stretching for nearly a hundred miles and every parish in the diocese has been invited to contribute. Sussex Exclusive were lucky enough to talk to The Reverend Canon Vanessa Baron about some of the themes of the exhibitions and some of the stories and artefacts visitors can expect to see.
“The Chichester950 exhibition will be arranged thematically and chronologically. We’ve chosen key themes that tell the story of how the Christian faith has been articulated, whether that’s in words or objects or in people’s lives down the centuries. We want the items we’ve chosen to tell personal stories, because at the end of the day, faith is embedded in people.
As visitors reflect on the exhibition, we’ll be inviting them to ask themselves a number of questions: How do you respond to suffering? When you see war around you, how does it make you feel? If you were facing death, the real prospect of death, what would you hope for? What would you be feeling? What does faith mean to you and how does it shape your response?
The exhibition will start by exploring what there was before the Cathedral and Diocese, and then will develop around the following themes or periods in time.
Bishops
The role of bishops in the Middle Ages was primarily as statesmen, such as Ralph Neville who was Lord Chancellor of England in the 13th century. As part of the exhibition, we’ll have a copy of a document from the National Archives which is from the Cathedral begging Neville to visit because he hasn’t been for four years. The bishops of that time were complex personalities, who had tremendous power and we’ll have some wonderful artefacts to illustrate this, including intricately carved crozier heads from 13th century made from precious materials and some of the bishops’ rings. Chichester may have been a bit of a backwater but the bishops were punching above their weight.
Saints
For the theme of saints, the exhibition will concentrate on St Richard because he bridges the gap between bishops and saints. His was an extraordinary story. He was a reform bishop, and a deeply pastoral bishop. The King wouldn’t give him the income from the diocese or let him live in the Bishop’s Palace so he was forced to live in Tarring (famously tending to the fig trees there). But he would walk around the diocese and was well known amongst his clergy. He was a tremendously courageous but probably quite stubborn man.
We have a copy of his seal and we’re commissioning an artist’s impression of his shrine. We’re also hoping to get a replica of the 13th century Shipley reliquary that was discovered a number of years ago. The original is in the Horsham Museum (we can’t reproduce the atmospheric conditions here to have the original on show) but we’ll also have pilgrimage badges and an ampulla – the little lead caskets that people would fill with holy water from a pilgrimage site.
The cross
The cross is of course key to the Christian faith and really touches on the idea of human suffering. We’ve got the most exquisite little jewelled enamelled cross on loan from the church at Coombes, and we’re hoping to borrow a cross from Ditchling Parish that was made in the trenches in WWI. They will be displayed side by side.
The Bible
For the purposes of the exhibition, the focus of the Bible theme will be the word of God in English, and this brings us chronologically to the time of the Reformation. This was a time when there was a huge rise in literacy and in the number of people who were concerned about getting the scriptures in English.
Reginald Peacock was Bishop of Chichester in the 15th century. In fact, he was eventually condemned as a heretic, and he had a slightly miserable end, but he was the very first English theologian to write any theology in English. He’s an interesting and very important local personality. Very little of his work survived because it was deliberately destroyed due to some of the ideas expressed. But only a few years later, you start to get the Bible being translated into English much more freely and the exhibition will include some of the Cathedral’s earliest Bibles, Tudor Bibles, one published in the reign of Henry VIII.
Rebellion
During the Reformation people were rebelling against the idea that they could be excluded from things. This included the scriptures that were only available to those who could read Latin or Greek. Once printing became well established and literacy rates improved at the end of the Middle Ages and in the Tudor era, you get an explosion of works being written in English. So why couldn’t people have access to a Bible? Of course, the major reason for prohibiting it was political, because it involved different ways of thinking about things – and not just religious ideas.
Another aspect of the rebellion theme is the story of some of the Sussex martyrs, particularly the women. In fact, there was a group of women, known as Godly Women, who supported some of these martyrs. They tended to be quite wealthy women who often financially supported the martyrs when they were imprisoned, writing to them to encourage and exhort them. This group of women who were normally so silent, were taking the lead writing to the prisoners and teaching them and encouraging them spiritually.
A lot of their letters have survived and are kept at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The exhibition will include one of the editions of Foxe’s Books of Martyrs. He supported the martyrs but even he felt compelled to edit some of the letters. It’s a fascinating story about why these women existed and how they were so influential.
The exhibition will also show the Ashburnham Chalice which belongs to the Parish of Ashburnham and was donated by the Bickerstaff family, who still live at Ashburnham. This was a local family who remained very loyal to Charles I. The chalice was given to the parish in thanksgiving for the restoration of their lands by Charles II following the Civil War. It will be exhibited alongside a cannonball.
Retreat
After the turmoil of the 16th and 17th centuries, by the 18th century people were sick to death of the Civil War. They were also sick to death of enthusiasm and zeal. At this point, people’s faith retreats from the public arena and becomes much more private and personal. It was about having an individual relationship with Jesus Christ and that leads to a sort of interior retreat.
However, at the same time, the clergy were increasingly scholarly, conscientious and learned. They spent time in academic work and spiritual writing. You begin to get observers of the natural world, like the Gilbert Whites of Selborne. At one level, religion in the 18th century becomes very dull and dry as a complete reaction to the previous century but it’s also scholarly and inquisitive and it sets the framework for the huge resurgence in the 19th century.
In terms of artefacts, for this aspect of the exhibition there will be examples from the cathedral library of some of these learned books that show the development of interest in philosophy, natural philosophy and enlightenment that became so important.
Social concern – love thy neighbour
For the 19th century, one area of focus will be the first order of nuns to be founded in England since the Reformation, in East Grinstead. They were the Society of St Margaret and were deeply controversial. It was considered to be incredibly dangerous for young women to take themselves away from home in this way and in many cases, they disobeyed their families to do so. They nearly all came from wealthy backgrounds but were committed to the care and nursing of the poor. There are some extraordinary stories of these women who went out to live with people desperately in need of help. They were nursing people with infectious diseases like typhoid, scarlet fever, cholera and TB. In fact, when they had a cholera outbreak in Lewes, the nuns set up a field hospital. They say that the moment the nuns arrived, no more people died and there are some artefacts coming from the East Grinstead Museum about this.
Similarly, Reverend Arthur Wagner, from a phenomenally wealthy family, was responsible for a considerable amount of slum clearance in Brighton, paid for out of his own personal purse. He rebuilt good accommodation at a very basic rent that people could afford.
A third example of this theme is Bishop Hannington from Hurstpierpoint who became the first Bishop of East Equatorial Africa and was martyred in Uganda. He wrote lots of letters back to his family, which he illustrated, including a small pocket notebook that he kept for the last two weeks of his life in captivity, and which ends on the day he died. The notebook found its way back to England.
Diversity
The exhibition will also look at diversity as well as also new expressions of faith. In the 20th century you have the growth of the Pentecostal movement and the charismatic movement coming from the Caribbean. And of course, you’ve got the involvement and the growth of the influence of women in the church and as well as LGBTQIA+ representation and influence.”
Exhibition details
The Religion, Rebellion & Reformation exhibition will run from 14th February – 15th November 2025 in Chichester Cathedral. You will be able to read more about the Cathedral and exhibition here: Sussex Exclusive Magazine Edition 10 – Chichester 950
You can find more information about Chichester950 on the Chichester Cathedral website.
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